Ancient Mystic's War of the Realms Saga - Lady Adellandra Dratianos (electric book reader TXT) 📗

don’t know about you.”
“You know everything, lover and you know it.” Shane kissed his wife. He explained. “We practically grew up together.”
“While we grew apart.” Ariana muttered, looking at her twin.
The group talked over what was going on. Ariana stood and headed to the back door to check on the kids. She and Cara met eyes, with Cara nodding her head and smiling. Ariana lost herself in memories until she heard someone calling her name.
“Hey Ariana.” When she turned, her sister Claudia continued. “Whatever happened to the Black-as-Night Crystal anyway? Have you returned it to the Gatekeeper, yet?”
Sadly, Ariana shook her head.
“Let me guess.” Luna spoke up. “You’re afraid to go back there alone.”
Ariana received a hug from her twin. “You’d better believe it. I’m still thinking about the time Orthos took Kelly and I there, making us Invisibites.”
“Okay, I’m confused.” Anna said. “What are Invisibites?”
Luna explained. “When the soul and body split. She and Kelly were taken to the Abyss by Orthos, but their bodies remained.”
“Since we didn’t have Magic to return, we had to wait for Maximaniac to call the spell and take us to the Dream Realm, where we could safely return home.”
“Wow. Intense.” Craig whispered. “Where was Derrick in all this?”
“He was there, standing above her body in her bedroom.” Shane said. “I was there, too, for Luna when the twins switched places.”
Ariana nodded, agreeing. She closed her eyes to think of her loving husband. She sensed him nearby and called out. “Derrick!”
Just as she raced to the front door, he opened it. She gave him a hug and a passionate kiss.
“I’m home.”
Ariana laughed, holding onto him. “I can see that” She hugged him again. “I’ve missed you!”
“Oddly enough, I’ve missed you, too.” Derrick joked, kissing her again. “Remind me never to do that again.”
“Anytime.” Ariana cried with a laugh. It was good to have him home again. “Everybody’s here to see you.”
“How did you know I was coming back today?” Derrick asked. “You didn’t sense me until I came up the drive.”
“How do you know that?” Ariana replied.
“I took the Pendant off when I arrived at the hotel.” Derrick confessed. “Sorry, Love.”
“How could you just take it off?” Shane cornered him. “That’s your link to her. What if something happened to her when you had it off? You never would have known!”
“Never mind for now, Shane.” Ariana said sternly, not wanting anymore arguments. Especially when Derrick just walked in the door. “He’ll explain everything in his own time.”
“That’s right. Now, I’m going upstairs to take a hot shower, dress and unpack.” Derrick said.
Ariana stopped him. “Say hello to your children first, will you? They’ve been worried about you.”
“Oh they have, have they? I’m willing to bet they aren’t the only ones.” Derrick teased her nose with a kiss, hugging her shoulders and making her smile.
She sighed happily as he left. Luna walked up to her, whispering. “Well?”
“Well what?”
“Is he telling the truth? Did he take it off?”
“Why would he lie, Lu? Think about it.” Ariana replied. “I’m sure he had good reason to. Besides, I shut my empathy and telepathy to him off when he left.”
“Why?” Craig wanted to know.
“He said he needed to be alone for awhile.” Ariana said. “To me, that meant severing my links to him. Wouldn’t you do the same thing if you were in our shoes?”
Craig and Claudia looked at one another before looking at Ariana. “I guess so, yeah.”
“I have to tell him about Jake.” Anna said. “He is Derrick’s brother, and they are pretty close.”
“What about him?” Came Derrick’s voice from behind the group. The kids were hanging on him. He handed young Logan to his mother before taking a seat. “What’s wrong with Jake?”
“He’s in the psychiatric ward of Philbrooke Memorial.” Anna said softly.
Derrick laughed. “Yeah, that’ll be the day. Jake’s got to be the sanest person I know. What would he be doing there?”
“He had an attack from a Djinn.” Anna supplied. “The same thing that attacked you at the station. You were strong enough to hold it off until help arrived to banish it. Jake, well, he didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t control his own mind.”
“Who sent him there?” Derrick asked, worried. “When is he getting out?”
“I sent him there for observation while we figure how to use the silver-Magic to banish it.” Anna said.
“Is that how I banished Derrick’s Djinn?” Ariana asked.
Anna nodded.
“Who knows about this silver-Magic thing?” Craig asked.
Each Ancient Mystic in the room: Ariana, Luna, Kevin, Claudia, Mary Ellen and Anna either shrugged or shook their heads.
“Nobody knows?” Cara peeped up. She was sitting on the carpet with Meredith and Melody on both sides of her.
“I already told you what I knew.” Shane supplied.
Ariana began to pace, putting her mind in detective mode. She thought back to how she exorcized the Djinn demon. “Try using a short-spell with him, Anna.”
“Which one?”
“Dominicus,” Ariana started.
“Exordium,” Luna added.
“Bane.” The twins echoed.
“Is that Latin?” Craig asked.
“Nope. Ancient Mystic.” Luna stated. “Sounds the same, but isn’t. The Ancient Mystics came before them.”
“What’s the translation?” Derrick asked.
“Dominicus is ‘Dominion’,” Ariana began. “Exordium means ‘to Exile.’ Last, Bane is ‘to Banish.’ So, a Dominion Exile Banishment.”
“Huh. You learn something new every day.” Kevin said with a grin. “Good for you, little sister.”
“Thanks, big brother.” Ariana said, grinning back. “I think very highly of your praise.”
Cara laughed. “Finally! Everything’s back to normal around here!”
The entire group laughed.
“Come on, kid. Let’s go home.” Kevin said to Cara. He, Andrea, Craig, Claudia, and Cara said their goodbyes. “You’re gonna be okay, right Ariana?”
Ariana hugged her older brother. “Yes, I’ll be fine. Thank you.”
Mary Ellen was shortly behind them. “I guess I ought to be going, too.”
“Thanks for coming.” Ariana remarked. “Where’s Michael?”
“Had to work. Should I tell him what’s going on?”
“Only if it involves him.” Ariana supplied. “He’s too new to the Ancient Mystic mess to get him uptight over it.”
“You’re right, as always.” Mary Ellen joked. “See you later, little sister.”
Only Anna, Luna, Shane and Derrick remained with the kids.
“What do we do now?” Luna asked.
“I want to get Jake back.” Anna said. “Who’s with me?”
“I’ll go with you, Anna.” Derrick remarked. “I want to see just how bad he is.”
“I’ll stay here with the kids.” Ariana said.
“Me, too.” Shane said.
“I guess that leaves me.” Luna replied. “Do you think he’ll know the difference between us?”
“I’m sure he will.” Derrick said. “We’ll take my Jeep.” He turned to Anna. “Lead the way.”
“Gotcha.”
With kisses to their loved ones, they were off.
Ariana and Shane were alone again. After sending the kids outside to play, he asked her.
“So, what did you see?”
She pondered her next words. “You really want to know?”
“I asked, didn’t I?” He countered as he sat himself down at the mini-bar in the kitchen.
She took a seat beside him and explained what she saw. “I saw a vision of your father, long before he ever met your mother. Shane, he was with another woman and his children.”
“Are you sure? Dad never told me anything when I was young.”
“That’s because to him, there was nothing to tell.” She supplied. “He was happy with you and your mother. Other than that...”
“What?” Shane prodded. “What is it?”
“I don’t think you want to hear what I saw next.”
“Tell me!” Shane held her arm so tight, it hurt. Once he noticed what he was doing, he relaxed, releasing her.
“It was a suicide-homicide.” Ariana replied softly. “He killed himself in that accident, killing your mother with him. My guess, it had something to do with the woman and children he had before her.”
Shane pondered her words. “That’s – I don’t know what to think, to say. It’s so amazing.” He stood, pacing the floor. “I mean, wow. This is great!”
“Great? Great that your father killed himself and your mother?” Ariana cried. “Are you nuts?”
Shane shook his head, a giant smile on his face. “Do you know what this means?”
“I’m sure you’ll humor me.”
“My first lead to my true identity.” Shane replied. “The other day, Luna watched the kids while I was at work. Caleb had a couple friends over.”
Shane “the Shadow” Morehouse had returned. Ariana rolled her eyes. “Go on.”
“She told me one thing that made me think. Those friends of Caleb’s had our last name.” Shane supplied. “Morehouse!”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ariana replied. “There could be hundreds of Morehouse’s in the state alone! You can’t be certain Caleb’s friends are related to you.”
“You don’t think I can prove it?” Shane asked, pointing a finger at her with a smile on his lips. “Watch me.”
“I was afraid of that.” Ariana muttered as he stormed out the door. “Thanks for volunteering me as a babysitter!” She cried into the air, heading out to the backyard.
Only Shane knew what was on his mind, for Ariana didn’t even want to try to guess.

II

At Philbrooke, Luna and Derrick followed Anna to Jake’s room. Derrick knocked, but there was no answer. He turned the knob and walked inside.
“Jake?” He called.
He saw his brother staring out the window, pen in hand and paper on his lap. Jake was tapping his pen to the pad nervously.
“Jake.” Anna said aloud, finally grasping his attention.
“Anna.” Jake raced to her, hugging her tight. He looked at his brother and Luna. “Are you here to spring me from this place?”
“Not yet.” Derrick said. “We want you to sit down. Anna and Luna are going to call a spell to get the Djinn from you.”
“Djinn?” Jake asked.
“We’ll explain later.” Luna supplied.
Jake sat on the bed. “Whatever works, go for it.”
Anna turned to the door, closing and locking it with telekinesis alone. Luna nodded after closing her eyes and checking to make sure no one was around to witness. The sisters held hands and called the spell. Derrick could only stand aside as the women did their work. They repeated the spell, first softly, then louder with each repetition. When his brother began to shake, Derrick raced to his side to hold him upright.
“Fight it, brother.” He whispered in Jake’s ear. “I know you can. Come on, fight it.”
Anna and Luna continued to repeat the spell, concentrating their attentions to Jake.
“Help me, little brother...” Jake’s voice whispered, his body now rigid.
“There is no help for the rebels!” Came another voice from Jake’s mouth. This one was more airy and anything but feminine.
“Let him go, Djinn!” Derrick cried, wrapping his arms around his brother’s body. When he began to shake again to free himself, Derrick held on tighter. “I don’t think so.”
“Lousy Ancient Mystic chump!” The voice cried in a hoarse whisper.
“If you won’t give up, I have three words for you.” Derrick said, then whispered. “Dominicus, Exordium, Bane.”
Derrick joined in the chant, using the power of love he had for his brother as an anchor.
With a scream that deafened, the Djinn left Jake’s body, leaving it limp. Derrick sat back on the bed, holding his brother from behind.
Anna and Luna stopped chanting to stare at them, silent. Neither said a word as they watched.
Derrick put his head down and softly began to cry. “Jake, please be okay. Please. I’m sorry for the lousy life we had, for not showing you I cared.” He hugged his brother harder, closer to his chest. “Come back to us, big brother. Anna’s here;